Living in the information age, the amount of information available to the average person is abundant. Such an abundance of information requires organization in order to prevent clutter from accumulating. In the work environment, organization promotes productivity by permitting people to toil in a more proficient fashion. Paper filing systems have long been used as a method of organization. In a paper filing system of organization, cabinets, shelves, trays, carts, and folders are popular tools to categorize, file, and store items.
While the paper filing system offers benefits of organization, flaws also accompany such a system. Paper filing systems present the difficulty of retrieving files that have been stored. The process of retrieving files may take a long duration of time depending on if the file has been properly organized or if the file is currently in use by someone else in or outside the office/home. Also, filing documents in proper folders or cabinets takes a long time and often misfiling or loss of documents occurs. As a result, in searching for a particular document, a person may have to sift through loads of paper in search of a document or wait until the file to become available. Both incidents result in a waste of time. Another flaw of the paper filing system is that it can become costly; as such a system requires cabinets and an array of other tools to achieve organization. In addition to the cost, cabinets often take up much space, thus reducing the working space available.
Another traditional method of storing information is recording documents on to microfilm. Such a method transmits the original document to a copy in the form of a thin paper or photographic film, which may last for 500 years if stored in proper conditions. However, microfilm is accompanied by several disadvantages. A limitation of microfilm is that the film must be chemically treated before usage, which can become time costly. Also, microfilm retains little grayscale aptitude, which results in the viewer only being able to see a high contrast of black and white text documents and pictures. Due to the material in microfilm, the device creates poor paper copies, scratches easily, and requires a special storage environment to ensure prolonged existence.
With the vast innovation of computer technology, information is becoming gradually more stored in digital formats. Documents not previously created in a digital format, such as paper files, can easily be converted in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), or comparable electronic file formats, such as Graphics Interchangeable Format (Off), Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group (JBIG), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), or Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). Paper files can be converted into digital format's such as these via a document scanner that sends the files to a computer interface, which a user may then view the files on a monitor or print the files onto paper.
The system of storing paper files in digital format is known as electronic filing. Such a system displays many benefits, considering the fact that computers operate at rapid speeds. Thus, searching, retrieving, as well as many other operations concerning files can be performed virtually instantly. Using an electronic filing system opens up space by eliminating the need for file cabinets. A plurality of documents may be stored on a disk, which makes filing quick and easy.
An important component in an electronic filing system is a document scanner. The scanner has become a popular electronic device to use alongside with personal computers for work, school, or leisure. In general, scanners obtain information from printed media in order that this media be read and stored in an array of computer applications. The science of the standard scanner is that the device has a light structure comprising of a lamp, mirrors, and lens placed in a certain configuration within a hollow space, and an assortment of photosensitive machinery. This structure produces electrical signals in ratio to the amount of light exposed. A flat glass usually sits on top of the hollow space and a document is fed into the system across the flat glass as the lamp is aimed at the document. Light bounces of the document and reflects back to the hollow space in the direction of the photosensitive machinery. An image is constructed and transported to a computer interface via cables and wires.
While scanners are extremely useful in electronic filing systems, they also posses some complicating faults. When the scanner constructs an image of a print document, this image is only stored within the device temporarily. In order to store the image permanently the image is transported to a personal computer, which is attached to the scanner through cables and wires. Thus, a scanner must be in close proximity of a computer-processing unit (CPU), such as a personal computer. Conventional scanners do not offer users the ability to place a scanning device in any particular location regardless if there is a computer present or not. Subsequently, the user's mobility is confined when using a conventional scanner in an electronic filing system.
An assortment of scanning devices has become available to use as part of an electronic filing system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,788 issued to Robert K. Gottlieb on Jun. 25, 1985 shows a method and device for providing a scanner interface circuit, yet unlike the present invention, this device is for use with a universal multi-station document inserter and contains no disk writer within the unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,614 issued to Yamaoto, Keiji on Jul. 11, 1995 shows an electronic filing device that contains a scanner that scans documents and stores image information, yet unlike the present invention, this device only temporarily stores information. Thus information requires the use of a computer to transfer the information obtained to permanent storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,907 issued to Kent Pavey on Jun. 25, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,177 issued to Radovan V. Krtolica on Oct. 26, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,993 issued to Rene F. A. Collard on Jan. 30, 2001 show devices that scan and distribute documents for storage, yet unlike the present invention, these devices utilize a network interface to operate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,024 issued to Carl Knowles on Jul. 3, 1997 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,629011 Jun. 27, 2000 show handheld scanner devices, yet unlike the present invention, these devices provide access to the WWW and are designed for surfing the Internet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,281 issued to Keith T. Knox on Aug. 4, 1998 shows a method, that unlike the present invention, is primarily concerning correcting the amount of light reflected by a document being processed by a scanning device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,518 issued to Philip C. D. Hobbs on Sep. 12, 2000 shows a portable pocket 3-D scanner, yet unlike the present invention, this device stores a limited amount of files, and may only scan items of a small size.
Thus there is a need for a document scanner that does not need to be connected to a desktop personal computer, posses the capability of storing information files, and reduces the need for paper files, yet is still compatible to use with any personal computer if the need is present.